


Encrypt

by FaeMytho



Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One)
Genre: :hee:, M/M, THE TRINE GETS TO BE STUPID THO they were my favorite, THIS IS NOT STICKY PLS I SWEAR, also the cassettes Finally Appeared so i legally tagged them, and has no idea how to deal with them, first of all; non; fuck you, i dont think i should tag them since they dont really show up for very long??, i have been made aware that the description makes it sound not safe for work, part two: soundwave realizes that he Did in fact catch feelings, second of all; this is sfw i SWEAR, skywarp being stupid, starscream being stupid, stupid confessions, technically the cassettes make an appearance too but, these are the dumbasses from the g1 cartoon smh, third of all; non ily, thundercracker is the ONLY sane one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23929150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaeMytho/pseuds/FaeMytho
Summary: Starscream's got a problem (with Soundwave), and he needs to get rid of it. He figures letting the problem (Soundwave) know about its presence will make it go away.He is wrong.AKA, Starscream spends the whole fic being dramatic because he's an idiot. Now with a Soundwave edition.
Relationships: Skywarp & Starscream & Thundercracker (Transformers), Soundwave/Starscream
Comments: 11
Kudos: 160





	1. Encrypt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mutantalientrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mutantalientrash/gifts).



> okay hi  
> uh
> 
> so ive just gotten into transformers at the ripe year of 2020 and im scrambling to intake the sheer amount of content lmao. these two idiots from G1 took me by the shoulders and shook me violently until i created this
> 
> i dunno if im going to come out with any more transformers stuff tbh. if i actually do, ill make a transformers pseud and move this from my main to that one
> 
> this was a trade fic for one of my friends and i had so much fun writing this but i am honestly ready to just post it as is and let it be
> 
> i love u marti this was so fun to write ♥♥♥

This couldn’t be happening. There was absolutely no way this could be happening, and yet, he could no longer deny the way his spark seemed to lurch at the mere sight of the other mech. He couldn’t deny the way his faceplates heated up so much his system threatened to automatically click on his cooling fans for him, at the other’s presence alone.

Obviously, this was some kind of trick or prank or joke. Maybe some sort of virus or bug that had snuck its way into his processor. He would almost bet Skywarp’s left wing that that was the case; the energon they’d managed to scrounge up lately was positively rancid.

Because there was no way on Earth,  _ or _ Cybertron, that he could possibly have feelings for Soundwave.

Of all mechs, it was Soundwave.  _ Soundwave! _ He could almost laugh himself silly at the mere thought alone, but another little throb from his spark stopped him. It wasn’t funny anymore. Feelings for Soundwave were a bit disgusting on their own, but feelings for  _ anyone _ could compromise him. Already once he had gotten distracted and lost in thought on the battlefield, and as a consequence, had almost lost one of his wings.

Only two options remained. Either he suppressed and attempted to forget these insufferable feelings, or he confessed them in an attempt to make them go away.

* * *

"How did you even mess up that bad?!" Skywarp screeched with laughter, falling backwards onto his berth with a loud clang. Thundercracker was sitting on the edge of his berth, holding his face in his servos, and Starscream was curled into a pouting ball on his.

"It wasn’t  _ my _ fault!" He snapped, faceplates heating up with embarrassment. Truly, it  _ hadn’t _ been his fault. Skywarp had just startled him, and he’d hit a wrong button, and Soundwave entered the room to find the two of them arguing over extremely precious files he had just deleted from the Nemesis’ mainframe. Thanks to  _ Skywarp _ , because it was  _ not _ his fault. "You shouldn’t have startled me like that!"

"Guys please calm down, it’s not that big of a deal, Soundwave was able to recover the files anyways-" Thundercracker attempted to cut in, but Skywarp was not having it.

" _ You _ shouldn’t be so jumpy!" Skywarp huffed back, rolling over to glare at Starscream’s back. Thundercracker gave a defeated groan and dropped his face back into his servos. Without waiting for a retort from Starscream, Skywarp kept going. "What were you even doing in there?"

"Wait, yeah, what  _ were _ you doing in there Screamer?" Thundercracker looked up again, and Starscream curled around himself tighter, faceplates heating up.

"None of your business," he snapped, and his processor unhelpfully decided to pull up the memory files of what Skywarp had just asked. He  _ had _ been leaving a little note for Soundwave to find and decrypt, since there was no way he was going to just profess his feelings and leave it out where anyone could see it. Soundwave was the only one on the Nemesis smart enough to decrypt something Starscream himself had encrypted. And if he left it unsigned, Soundwave would never even know it was him. He could get these insufferable feelings off his chest without receiving the repercussions for it, and he could continue on with his life as the future leader of the Decepticons.

Thankfully, it had been lost with the other deleted files.

"What if we asked you  _ really _ nicely?" Thundercracker mused, and Starscream could practically hear the gears in his head turning.

"What if we bribed you?" Skywarp mused in the same tone of voice, and Starscream debated throwing the berth’s headrest at him.

"How about neither of those things, because it’s none of your business," he enunciated, turning over and glaring across the room at his trinemates. They met his glare and stayed silent for all of two nano-kliks before turning to each other and immediately theorizing what Starscream could have been doing. Starscream wanted to scream.

He listened to them talk back and forth before giving in and sitting up with a small screech. Skywarp and Thundercracker fell silent, staring at him.

"Fine, fine, you want to know what I was doing in there?" He snapped, watching as Skywarp immediately began to examine the ends of his digits like some kind of organic diva, acting as though he didn’t care.

"Maybe so," he kept musing, though his wings fluttered just slightly in excitement. Thundercracker looked exhausted.

" _ Yes _ , Starscream," Thundercracker stressed. "We would  _ love _ for you to regale us with tales of your illegal misadventures."

Starscream opened his mouth, lifting a servo before frowning and glaring at Thundercracker. Maybe it was the obvious sarcasm Thundercracker was speaking with, or the stupidity of Skywarp, but the next words somehow came easier. "I was  _ trying _ to leave a file for Soundwave-"

"Oh? Why’s that?" Skywarp immediately asked, forgetting the ends of his digits and focusing on Starscream. Starscream resisted the urge to scream again.

"If you’d shut your mouth for at  _ least _ one nano-klik, maybe I’d tell you," he sneered, and Skywarp pouted at him. He gave his trinemate one last glare, before sighing and looking away. "I… My processor insists on having feelings for him and I’m trying to get  _ rid _ of them."

Skywarp shrieked, his wings flapping now. Thundercracker stared, his jaw dropped. And Starscream sorely wished he’d never said anything at all.

* * *

Skywarp had suggested ‘appealing to Soundwave’. As a way to get rid of the feelings, of course. Because there was no way Soundwave would actually go along with it, and Starscream definitely didn't need the distraction. The only reason Starscream was going along with it was because Skywarp had managed to get a ton of people in his berth already, so he probably knew what he was talking about with all this sticky feelings stuff.

Not that Starscream was even trying to get Soundwave in his berth. He shuddered to imagine it.

Skywarp's approach led to Starscream staring across the room as Soundwave tapped away at the computers. Laserbeak sat contently on his shoulder, and Rumble and Frenzy sat by his pedes, squabbling over something petty. If he focused hard enough, he could make out the algorithms Soundwave was running; but that wasn’t why he was here.

Venting deeply, Starscream made his way over to Soundwave. Every single thump of his pedes seemed to ring in his audials, and time seemed to slow down. Had he always been this nervous around the third in command? Why did it feel like his spark was threatening to burst forth from his frame?

His pede caught on his other pede, and he stumbled forward, and everything seemed to be moving fast again, quicker somehow. Soundwave turned, and to add insult to injury, simply watched him stumble forward towards him, before reaching out and stopping him with one servo on his shoulder. A pair of twin snickering was hastily muffled beneath them, but Starscream didn't actually care enough at the moment to kick Rumble and Frenzy across the room.

Soundwave said nothing, and Starscream struggled to unstick his glossa.

"I, uh, uhm," he said elegantly, and behind the visor he could swear Soundwave rose a brow. He was Starscream! He was elegant and poised and perfect, and he could handle this. He steeled himself, before all but throwing the words Skywarp had told him to say at Soundwave. "If you're ever interested, there's, uh, room in my berth f-"

"WOAH, HEY," Frenzy shouted, leaping up and snatching Laserbeak to cover her audials. Laserbeak screamed indignantly, but both the twins held her tight, glaring up at Starscream. "You can't just say that slag around Laserbeak, you might taint her!"

Laserbeak screeched her fury, clawing at Rumble and Frenzy's hands with no small amount of strength. To the tiny cons credit, they didn't let go of her, glaring up at Starscream.

Soundwave said nothing. For a solid moment after the dreaded words left his mouth, his servo stayed on Starscream's shoulder. And for a terrifying moment, Starscream found himself dreading an answer from Soundwave.

_ Any _ answer.

So without giving Soundwave a chance to respond or comment or do anything, Starscream pulled himself away and all but scampered out of the room.

* * *

"I can't believe I did that," Starscream groaned into the headrest of his berth, and Thundercracker patted his back. "Oh frag, I can't believe I did that."

"That should have worked, you know," Skywarp huffed, pacing around their quarters. "If you'd just stayed long enough to actually finish your stupid sentence, you might actually-"

"Oh shut up, Skywarp, can't you see I'm busy feeling embarrassed because of something you made me do?" Starscream snapped, lifting his face from the headrest. Skywarp's face twisted angrily, and Thundercracker leapt up between them, holding his arms out.

"Hey, hey, calm down," he spoke frantically, even spreading his wings a bit. "What's done is done, no matter who's fault it is. Let's just think it over, okay?"

Skywarp grumbled to himself, and Starscream dropped his face back into the headrest with a thump.

"Honestly Screamer," Skywarp spoke up after a moment, ignoring Starscream's muffled 'don't call me that'. "Maybe you should just give it up. I mean, c'mon.  _ Soundwave? _ The mech's practically a wall, you'll never get through to him."

"Thanks 'Warp, that really helps," Starscream grumbled, resisting the urge to slam his face into the headrest over and over.

"No, he's not giving it up," Thundercracker said flatly, before shifting to sit on the berth next to his limp frame. "Maybe you should try it a different way," Thundercracker suggested. "Your way didn't work, 'Warp's way didn't work. Maybe you should, I don't know… Actually try to talk to him? Straightforward? And actually tell him face to face?"

"TeeCee, I love you, but that's a terrible idea," Skywarp proclaimed. There was an audible clang of a servo hitting faceplates, and Thundercracker groaned tiredly.

"Just think about it," the only sane member of their trine spoke, and stood from Starscream's berth.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Skywarp stopped pacing, Thundercracker froze, and Starscream lifted his head, all three of them staring at the door as though they had imagined the sound. It was only a split nano-klik after the second knock that Skywarp bolted to answer it, and Starscream put his head back down.

"Helloooo- Oh." Skywarp sounded surprised, but not surprised enough for Starscream to care about who it might be. "Hi, Soundwave," Skywarp purred, and Starscream's head shot up off the headrest, staring in horror at the door.

Soundwave stood there, looking stiff as usual.

"Greetings Skywarp. Requesting private conversation with Starscream."

Starscream wanted to offline and never wake up.

"Oh, private huh?" Skywarp cooed, glancing over his shoulder at Starscream and giving him a wink. If not for Soundwave standing there, Starscream might have screeched an obscenity, and yet, he found his glossa stuck and his mouth closed.

"Affirmative," came the answer. Skywarp looked like he might crow with delight, and Starscream never wanted so badly to be able to cuss his trinemate out.

"Well, he's  _ right _ here," Skywarp sang, stepping aside to give Soundwave a full view of Starscream in his horrified, still sulking glory. Soundwave took a step forward, into the room, and Starscream scrambled to sit up, almost tripping over his own pedes as he swung them around to stand.

"Uh," he said gracefully.

"We can leave if you two need us to," Skywarp teased, prancing across the room and locking arms with Thundercracker before the blue seeker even knew what was happening.

"Preferred." Soundwave nodded, and before Starscream had the chance to protest, Skywarp was dragging a stunned Thundercracker out of the room with a happy skip to his pedes.

Once the door slid shut behind them, Starscream stayed staring at it, adamantly refusing to look at Soundwave or even break the silence. Apparently, Soundwave was good at this game, and they stood there in silence for almost a full breem before Starscream couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you here?" He snapped, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg, trying to hide how uneasy he was. If Soundwave noticed it, he gave no indication. "If it's about earlier, Skywarp made me-"

"While retrieving deleted files, recovered an encrypted file with deleted files from the Nemesis mainframe," Soundwave spoke. Starscream filled with dread. "No indication of whom it belonged."

"Yeah?" Starscream huffed. "Why are you coming to me if you don't know who encrypted the file then?"

"Your encryption work, unique," Soundwave explained, standing there waiting for Starscream to connect the dots.

If Starscream could sweat, he would have been sweating. Thank Primus he wasn't a disgusting organic.

"What, you're saying that file was mine?" He scoffed, though his processor was practically whirring with all the ways he could get out of admitting that the file, which Soundwave had likely decrypted by now, was his work. "You can't prove it."

"Security footage," was Soundwave's answer. "Your encryption work, unique, telling. Contains… Starscream flair. Dramatic."

Starscream stared at Soundwave, wondering who the Pit this could possibly be in front of him, because this  _ definitely _ wasn’t Soundwave. He only briefly noticed his mouth was open before shutting it with a pop, giving Soundwave another appraising look.

“Get on with it,” he couldn’t help but say, completely forgetting to snap. It was a frozen day in the Pits when Soundwave complimented him, but today appeared to be that day.

“Decryption of file, successful,” Soundwave stated, and even though Starscream had predicted it, it was still terrifying to hear. Soundwave had decrypted his confession, which had been the plan all along, but Soundwave wasn’t supposed to know that  _ he _ had sent the file. He wasn’t supposed to know that the feelings were Starscream’s, and Starscream wasn’t supposed to feel all this hope and terror at whatever Soundwave’s answer was going to be.

“And?” He asked, his voice very quiet. Soundwave was quiet as well, before the unmistakable clearing of a vocalizer reached his audials, and Soundwave spoke again.

“Our schedule, opening tomorrow at four. Proposal, meet up.”

Starscream felt himself go weak, and he might have fallen backwards if not for his gravity stabilizers kicking in. He had to have hit his head on something, or fucked up his processor, because he could hardly believe this was happening.

“Y-Yeah, sure,” he spoke, his surprise causing his vocalizer to stutter. He couldn’t help the words he spoke, though he couldn’t bring himself to care about the possible repercussions anymore. “That… sounds good.”

Soundwave nodded stiffly. They both stood there for another breem, before Soundwave awkwardly turned and made his way towards the door.

As soon as he was gone, Starscream nearly collapsed backwards onto his berth, processor whirling. He had, against all odds, somehow scored what could be considered a date with Soundwave.

But even when Skywarp and Thundercracker came back, hounding him for details, he couldn’t bring himself to feel anything but happy.


	2. Decrypt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soundwave panics in gay, the cassettes are off the string, and the trine is unimpressed.
> 
> Thank Primus we have Starscream though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BET U DIDNT SEE THIS COMING
> 
> i didnt either but! hey, this chapter was so fun to work on. i especially liked working out rumble and frenzy's whole thing; i feel like frenzy doesn't get a lot of love, ever :(
> 
> anyways, take your disaster gays

The moment the door to the seekers' quarters closed, Rumble opened his big mouth and teased Soundwave the entire way back to their own room. Though it was through their bond, and he had no choice but to hear it, his processor refused to acknowledge anything until he was safely back in his quarters and away from the rest of the world.

The doors slid open at his command, though he barely remembered getting in front of them. Rumble went silent as he entered the room, thank Primus. It was a short lived silence, however, as Laserbeak immediately screamed through their bond from her perch in his room.

_"You've got a date!!"_

He sighed. So much for not talking about it. He had been hoping not to, but apparently it was all in vain.

Rumble let himself out of Soundwave's dock with a small hiss, transforming and landing gracefully on the ground. Frenzy wasn't far behind. While Rumble was excited, Frenzy just looked anxious. Soundwave frowned behind his visors in concern.

"Frag yeah he does!" Rumble announced, looking pleased. For a moment, Soundwave wondered if it had been a good idea to let the mischievous cassette dock when he went to go spontaneously ask Starscream out. Rumble had insisted though. Something about wanting to make sure his Carrier was going to be okay. It was sweet at the time, but now Soundwave regretted it.

"With Starscream though," Frenzy mumbled, sounding much less enthused than his twin. Rumble turned to look at the other cassette, raising an optic ridge.

"Well, I mean, yeah, Starscream wouldn't have been my first choice either," Rumble admitted, before pumping himself up again. "But hey, boss-mech's got a date! That's an achievement in and of itself!"

Frenzy didn't look comforted. Laserbeak watched the exchange from her perch, before giving a shriek and taking off towards Soundwave. Instinctively, he raised his arm for her to perch, and she landed with a contented beep.

She spoke through the bond, sounding distinctly ruffled despite her exterior demeanor. The twins stopped and listened.

_"It's not as though Soundwave can't take care of himself Frenzy,"_ she attempted to reassure him. After a nano-klik, Frenzy finally relented, venting softly.

"I know. But still, Starscream is… Starscream. I'm just worried is all," Frenzy explained, and was promptly punched in the shoulder by Rumble.

"Hey mech, don't you go getting all sappy on me," he warned with a laugh, and it had startled Frenzy so badly that the other cassette couldn't help but laugh as well. "Listen, Soundwave is gonna be fine. He's our Carrier, sure, but he can take care of himself, ya know? And if he can't, we'll be there to kick some aft for him!"

Frenzy finally smiled, and Soundwave watched with an air of relief as the twins slipped into their usual, rowdy routine of knocking each other around. On his arm, Laserbeak sat up and gave him a keen side-optic.

_"If he does hurt you, I'll personally kick his aft,"_ she vowed to him, and Soundwave vented with a soft fondness as the twins began to screech over Laserbeak saying a bad word.

* * *

The next orn could not have come any slower. It was as if the universe, maybe even Primus himself, was deliberately playing with the fabric of space-time, just to watch Soundwave build up suspenseful apprehension as the joors passed by in the slowest fashion possible, just for a good laugh. Throughout the entire orn, Soundwave was nervous, anxiously clicking the keys on his data pad as he worked in the mainframe.

It was even a slow day, too. No attacks, no Autobot sightings, no plans, no meetings. Just a terribly terrible slow day, and boring reports to go through and file away. It felt as though he couldn't go a nano-klik without checking his processor for the time, and it was every nano-klik afterwards that he felt dismay and anxiety stir up from deep within his frame.

_"Boss-mech, seriously, you gotta stop psyching yourself out,"_ came Rumble's helpful advice through their bond. He vented deeply and leaned back in his chair. For a klik, he strongly considered retracting his visor just to rub tiredly at his optics.

The Elite Trine were not a quiet bunch. In fact, Soundwave was sure they made it a point to be as loud as possible wherever they went. It was for that reason that he heard them coming to the room halfway across the Nemesis, and made the wise decision to keep his visor closed.

They entered the room in the middle of what sounded like an argument. Forgetting his apprehension, Soundwave watched in blatant amusement as the other mechs in the room gave quiet groans through their vocalizers, or slumped down in their seats tiredly. Once upon a time, he might have sympathized, or even been one of the ones giving an irate groan. Now, the trine's antics only reminded him fondly of Rumble, Frenzy, and Laserbeak, and he couldn't feel anything but amused.

Skywarp was talking the loudest, so that meant he was being ganged up on. Thundercracker, usually sensible, was louder than usual. Whatever they were arguing about, it had Thundercracker in enough of a fit that he had been subconsciously raising the volume of his vocalizer. Starscream was the quietest of the three, ironic given his name. Whatever they were arguing about had to do with Starscream, and Skywarp and Thundercracker were in odds about it.

It was probably the date Soundwave had asked Starscream on. Just that simple little realization was enough to make all that anxiety come crashing back. Soundwave immediately turned his attention back towards the monitor and the report he was working on, in a misguided, yet valiant attempt to ignore it.

"I'm just saying-" 

"No, you're not listening-!"

"Do you need your audials checked, TeeCee?"

"Hey, both of ya! Shut up!"

Frenzy, who was idly sitting by Soundwave's pedes with Rumble and Laserbeak, shouted to get the trine's attention. The black and red cassette pointed up at Soundwave, who was determinedly not looking at any of the seekers in the room. Instead, he was trying desperately to focus on his work, and yet, his processor was full of fizzling static, unable to focus at all.

The trine went silent, Skywarp's mouth left open halfway through a retort. Starscream, who had been silent from the beginning, huffed air through his vents and stormed out of the room. Skywarp rushed after him, but to Soundwave's surprise, Thundercracker stayed behind, glancing between him and the door.

From this, Soundwave could only deduce Thundercracker wanted to talk to him. His suspicions confirmed, the blue seeker casually made his way over to Soundwave's workspace.

"Hey, uh, Soundwave," he started, his vocalizer cracking only once. Soundwave vented softly. He wasn't going to get any productive work done today it seemed.

"Affirmative. Thundercracker; inquiry."

"Oh, uh, yeah," Thundercracker said. He shuffled his pedes for a klik. "That means you want to know why I'm over here bothering you, right?"

"Crude, but affirmative," was his answer, and he returned to his data pad for no other reason than to have somewhere else to look that wasn't Thundercracker.

"Oh, right, okay."

The seeker sounded relieved. From behind his visor, Soundwave frowned. Was it that hard to talk to him that even Thundercracker was nervous about it? No, he reassured himself. Thundercracker was like this all the time.

"So, uh, about… later," Thundercracker started, unsubtle as a giant ship out in the open among the stars. Soundwave gave a deep vent as nearly every audial in the room turned towards them. Thundercracker was not good at this at all. "I was, that is, we, Skywarp and I, were wondering if you had a plan or something?"

Soundwave set the data pad down, if only to save it from his irritation at Thundercracker's inability to be subtle.

"Wow, this is kind of a train-wreck to watch, eh Laserbeak?"

There was an answering scream in return, which meant Laserbeak did, in fact, agree with whichever twin had spoken. Soundwave was too busy being baffled by Thundercracker's blunt as the Pits question.

"Affirmative. Request, learn code-speak."

Thundercracker blinked his optics, then looked around the room. The optics of at least five other Decepticons stared at him, and he cussed under his breath, close enough for Soundwave to hear quite clearly.

The twins gave loud shouts about cussing in front of Laserbeak. Laserbeak screamed again, no doubt in Soundwave's mind that the twins had grabbed her to cover her audials. Thundercracker didn't appear to hear any of it, already halfway out the door and catching a blue wing on the frame. He gave a much louder cuss as he rushed out of the room and down the halls of the Nemesis.

The Decepticons in the room now had their eyes on Soundwave. A few of them had wisely gone back to work, but he was quite aware of their audials being tuned up. Picking up the data pad he had set down, he held it up and tapped it twice, a universal symbol for "get back to work". Rather smartly, the remaining Decepticons turned their faces away, and Soundwave gave a deep vent.

Rumble pat his pede in a playful sort of sympathy that one only has when they're severely enjoying something. Frenzy offered faux comfort in the form of words.

"Hey, could be worse Soundwave."

Laserbeak chirped in agreement. Soundwave only put his head down, and didn't move for another joor.

* * *

When the joor finally came, Soundwave found himself nervously pacing in his quarters. Rumble and Frenzy were watching from their seats on his berth, both of them silent despite their squabbling from earlier. Laserbeak, who was seated on her perch across the room, gave a soft chittering warble. The sound shocked Soundwave back to the present, and he took a klik to calm himself. He was going to focus, and he was going to knock this date out no matter what. Well, he wasn't going to knock Starscream out, that would be bad form. Especially on a date. They were on the same side, and Starscream outranked him. And they were going on a date.

Soundwave spiraled again, well aware of the twins' furious whispering, and Laserbeak's worried gaze. It wasn't for another few kliks that Frenzy finally stood up on the berth and made his thoughts known.

"Soundwave, I want to go with you," he stated clearly, and it was so out of the usual that Soundwave paused, took a nano-klik to access if he'd hit his head, and stared at his little cassette.

"Frenzy; inquiry."

"I don't think you should go on this date alone," Frenzy confessed. "I mean, it's Screamer. And you look nervous as the Pits. No offense."

"Point?"

"Boss-mech, Frenzy's just worried about ya," Rumble cut in, uncharacteristically serious. "I mean, we all are, but… Well we think one of us should go with you. Just to make sure everything goes okay."

Soundwave considered this. Having Frenzy in the dock would make him feel better. Besides, Frenzy had been worried about this from the start. He was the calmer of the two twins, but he'd put up enough of a fight as Laserbeak would if something went awry. Soundwave nodded slowly.

"Granted," he said softly, opening his chest compartment for Frenzy to dock. Frenzy gave him a beaming smile, before leaping up to dock himself in Soundwave's chest. Once the glass door had closed, Rumble gave a sigh and slumped down on the berth.

"Now who will I have to pull pranks with while the boss-mech is gone," he bemoaned the loss of his partner in crime. Laserbeak gave a cheerful beep, and Rumble waved her off. "It won't be the same."

With a fond glance in Rumble's direction, Soundwave turned to Laserbeak's perch. "Laserbeak; observe Rumble. Rumble; keep out of trouble."

She squawked in acknowledgement, and before he knew it, he was making his way through the halls of the Nemesis, mentally preparing himself for the date ahead. Outside of the seekers' quarters, he could hear shouting from behind the door. Frenzy's disapproval was strong through their bond, and Soundwave couldn't help but agree and disagree at the same time. To him, the Elite Trine's antics were just as charming to him as Rumble and Frenzy's were, though he still didn't think they were a valuable or productive use of time. Frenzy's disapproval relented.

Knocking on the door was terrifying. Soundwave had never realized how terrifying it could be. At his knock, the shouting ceased. Then, the doors opened.

"We've _got_ to stop meeting like this, dear," Skywarp crooned, draping himself across the doorframe. Soundwave's eyes stayed fixed on the seeker's face.

"Request inquiry; Starscream's presence: here."

"Uh, if that means 'is Starscream here', then yeah," Skywarp pouted, straightening up. Despite his put-out attitude at Soundwave's lack of interest, his wings were fluttering in very small movements in what Soundwave had come to recognize as excitement. "He's been moping in his berth the whole day."

Soundwave glanced past Skywarp, and sure enough, the red, blue, and white seeker was laying in his berth, turned away from the rest of the world. Soundwave could sympathize.

"Now, before you take our darling Screamer out on this, no doubt, _lovely_ date you have planned, would you mind regaling me and Thundercracker what exactly you plan to do with our little Screamer?" Skywarp purred, moving back in his field of vision and blocking his view of Starscream's moping self on the berth.

Soundwave stayed silent, staring at Skywarp. Did he have a plan? Did he even think about what they were going to do on the date, or did he really just spend the entire orn worrying about how it was going to go? How could he have overlooked such an important thing?

While he was panicking to himself, and saying nothing to Skywarp, the purple and black seeker had raised an optic ridge.

"TeeCee, you _said_ he had a plan," Skywarp whined, glancing over his shoulder.

"Yeah, that's what he told me when I asked!" Thundercracker's embarrassed voice came from somewhere in the room Soundwave couldn't see. "He said 'Affirmative', so I assumed that meant 'Yes I have a plan'."

"Incorrect," Soundwave found himself saying. "Agreement in context of Frenzy's comment."

"Oh Primus, you really don't have a plan." Skywarp sounded stunned, but then, the seeker's face changed to something more delightfully mischievous. "HA, I knew it! Thundercracker, you owe me your dinner rations for the next two days!"

Thundercracker's vocalizer crackled and fizzed with his groan, before it was muffled into what Soundwave could only assume was his berth's headrest. A nano-klik later, Skywarp was pushed out of the way, and Starscream himself shoved past Soundwave and out into the corridor. The door closed on Skywarp's dismayed sputtering.

Soundwave only blinked at Starscream in shock, though it wasn't as though the seeker had any way to tell that's what he was feeling. What had he been thinking? This was a bad idea, but it would be bad form to back out now, wouldn't it? Besides, despite his panicking, he really did come to care for the second in command. Despite all odds. Somehow.

"I figured you wouldn't have a plan," Starscream spoke up in that haughty tone Soundwave was used to. "So, I devised one of my own."

Starscream grabbed for Soundwave's servo, and before he knew it, he was being led through the halls of the Nemesis. Stunned, as only Starscream was able to do to him, Soundwave spoke.

"Request inquiry; how."

"How did I know you didn't have a plan, or how did I devise one?"

"The former."

Starscream shrugged, strutting ahead with confidence and towing Soundwave behind him. "Well, it's not entirely like you to do this sort of thing. Skywarp bet you'd never done it at all, and I was… inclined to agree."

"Affirmative."

Starscream glanced back at him with a smug, knowing smile, and Soundwave felt his spark flicker. The seeker turned to look ahead again, and Soundwave let out a soft vent of air, dazed by the feeling in his spark. It almost felt as though someone had touched it, something he'd never felt before. Frenzy was blessedly quiet.

"So, I took initiative," Starscream continued, unaware of Soundwave raising his servo and resting it against the glass where Frenzy was docked. That had felt… weird, when his spark flickered like that. Not bad. Just strange. Soundwave welcomed it. "I came up with a backup plan in case what you told Thundercracker wasn't true. And it wasn't, so thank Primus you've got me, right?"

"Request inquiry; where."

Starscream gave a laugh. His wings twitched with the same anxiety Soundwave had felt throughout the entire orn, and it calmed him to know Starscream was just as nervous about this as he was.

"Don't worry. You'll like it, I think."

Without another word, Starscream pulled him away by the servo. Soundwave, though calculative and smart, yet drawn to that wonderful feeling in his spark, that deep feeling he only ever got around Starscream, couldn't help but follow along.


End file.
